The COST Action “NANOSCALE COHERENT HYBRID DEVICES FOR SUPERCONDUCTING QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES” has been recently awarded. The Action includes 45 proponents from 18 countries, the main proposer being Hermann Suderow. The Action will develop networking activities with an open, proactive and inclusive approach, managing a budget of about 0.5M€ for four years. Researchers from every participating country will be able to apply for funds to carry out short scientific missions or participate in other networking activities within the theme of the Action, regardless of the group or institution where they develop their main activity.

COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. The Action is one of the 35 Actions approved by the Committee of Senior Officials on 23 June 2017.

Superconducting technologies are prime candidates to ripen quantum effects into devices and applications. The accumulated knowledge in decades of work in understanding superconductivity allows scientists now to make experiments by design, controlling relevant parameters in devices. A new field is emerging whose final objective is to improve appliances taking advantage of quantum effects, be it for dissipationless transport of current, generation of high magnetic fields, sensors or quantum information. The field will impact crucial areas for societal development, including energy, transport, medicine or computation. Quantum behavior is controlled by using hybrids of superconductors with magnets, insulators, semiconductors or normal metals. Traditionally, the scientific and technical communities working in superconductivity are spread across projects from different calls, whose activities put Europe at the frontier of research. The Action aims to address the pressing need for a common place to share knowledge and infrastructure and develop new cooperative projects.